Education/News/April 2023/Introducing Wikipedia to Kusaal Language Teachers

Introducing Wikipedia to Kusaal Language Teachers

Author: Musahfm

Summary: Teachers of the Kusaal language from three districts were introduced to Wikipedia and its sister projects. This was part of a series of workshops organized by the Kusaal Education Oversight Committee (KEOC) for teachers in it's pilot schools.

Social Media channels or hashtags: fuseini.musah1

The Kusaal Education Oversight Committee (KEOC) organized a series of workshops to train teachers in its pilot schools in the Zebila, Binduri, and Garu Districts in the Kusaug Traditional Area of the Upper East Region of Ghana. The workshop was to train the teachers on the appropriate methods of teaching the Kusaal language in basic schools in the area.

The organizers of the workshops, recognizing the relevance of Wikipedia in teaching the Kusaal language in schools, partnered with the Kusaal Wikimedia Community to factor in a Wikipedia session in each cohort of the workshop. As such, Mr. Musah Fuseini (Musahfm), a co-lead for the Kusaal Wikimedia Community, with support from the Dagbani Wikimedians User Group, held a Wikipedia session in each of the three workshop venues. The Zebila, Binduri, and Garu sessions were held on March 14th, 19th, and 20th, 2023 respectively.

At the Wikipedia sessions, Mr. Musah took the opportunity to introduce participants to Wikipedia and its sister projects. They were especially taken through how to create their Wikipedia user accounts and how to create articles on the Kusaal Wikipedia incubator.

Enthusiastic participants could not hide their excitement after successfully creating their user accounts and making their first edits by creating their first articles on the Kusaal Wikipedia incubator. They also pledged to give their all to help Kusaal get its own fully-fledged Wikipedia and to leverage the Wikimedia platforms to promote the language.

The impact of the Wiki sessions reflected the increase in the number of pages on the Kusaal Wikipedia incubator from 19 to about 80. The dedication and hard work of all are evidenced on all pages on the Kusaal Wikipedia homepage.

In conclusion, the Wiki sessions at the workshops served as a gateway to creating awareness among teachers about Wikipedia and its sister projects and the role Wikpidia could play in digitizing the Kusaal language and making knowledge freely accessible to Kusaal-speaking people.